Don’t worry, folks. This is fake news! All of these headlines came out of my head with the help of our newly formed Future Story Team, named by the official board.

These are all hypothetical headlines that may or may not appear in the Catonsville Times in April, 2023. Their purpose isn’t to predict the future, but to help us wonder together about how the church and our community might change in just five short years.

The ancient wisdom, “no one steps in the same river twice” has never been more true than it is now for the church.

Take worship. All of us who used to come to church out of obligation, or because there wasn’t much else to do on Sunday morning, now have tons of options. Soccer games, coffee shops, the garden, or just sleeping in a little on the one day we have to ourselves, have changed the landscape of what used to be the church’s special purview. At the same time, many of us hunger for the kind of connections and community the church offers- being in real time and space with other real people who care that we are there.

Or how about Christian Education?

While traditional Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, mid-week evening Bible studies and youth groups are being squeezed into small compartments of our kids’ busy schedules (somewhere between Japanese lessons and Yoga for Kids!) parents are saying now more than ever how they want their kids to know the stories of Jesus- how they want their kids to hang out with other kids they can trust.

Mission?

Once upon a time we enjoyed stories of people serving God in faraway places and could be counted on to give money to those efforts. Now we want to make a difference right here where we live. “Making a difference in the world” ranks right up there at the top of the list of reasons people choose their faith communities- right next to meaningful worship services.

Technology?

I remember carrying cassette tapes (along with the tape recorder) to homebound members so they could enjoy the audio version of the worship service- and that was cutting edge! Now, streaming and Youtube bring the whole sanctuary to us. And what about all that technology available to us in other ways. Are we more likely to read mail that arrives in the mailbox by our front door or the mail that lights up our screens? When it’s time to remind people of a meeting, do we phone, email, text, or send a PM message on Facebook.

Life is coming at us fast, and the word on the street is “be nimble”. If the church wants to be as important in the future as it has been in the past we need to be keenly aware of how the world is changing. In order to share the message of God’s promise of grace and requirement to do justice in the name of Jesus, we have to be light on our feet.

So, I invite us all to join together with the Future Story team to help us envision ministry emanating from Christian Temple five years down the road! Together we can turn what might otherwise be a scary future into an exciting adventure!

Shalom,

Rick

Contact any member of the Future Story Team with thoughts and suggestions The team is: Jimmy Sweet-Laughlin, Chair, Pat LaFon, Michael Stone, Bob Gerrett, Deb Kruse, Matt Bloedorn, Lexi Wick; Rick Powell and Cindy Wagner, Ex-Officio.

April 1, 2018, 12:00 AM

My Two Cents

This year our Every Member Commitment will present us with two important opportunities.

OUR ANNUAL COMMITMENT, OR PLEDGE

This critically important financial promise to Christian Temple is the engine that drives our ministry. When our members are generous, AND willing to say ahead of time through this pledge, what we plan to give over the coming year, our congregational leadership is able to gather those promises and make ambitious, but also fiscally responsible, plans for our ministry between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.

We will receive these commitments between April 8 and May 6th. And, we will celebrate our generosity with an after worship Cinco de Mayo happy hour on May 6th in the gathering!

OUR GIFT TO A NEIGHBOR IN NEED

The Horch family lived around the corner from Christian Temple for many years. We got to know Tracy (the mom) when she brought her kids to the play group that met in our old nursery, and would stop on the way in and out of the building to visit. Since then the Horches have been active in our neighborhood.

Late last winter, Keely, the Horch’s youngest of three kids, suffered a massive stroke after contracting an aggressive bacterial infection. Thankfully, the stroke didn’t affect Keely’s cognitive function. But the twelve year old girl who loves to bake and play soccer is now a quadriplegic with many special needs.

We know that the needs of the community are many. But we plan to offer us all an opportunity to make a gift to the Horch family- along with our annual commitment-to help them defray their enormous expenses and to make sure they know Christian Temple still cares for them.

Generosity makes everything possible and makes our hearts sing! Please be generous in your support of Christian Temple and the community that graciously receives our ministry.

Shalom,

Rick

March 2, 2018, 10:44 AM

My Two Cents

Back in the day Jesus got angry at the disciples for whining about what was coming next, when the realm of God would finally be established, and who got to sit at the head of the table. But, I think if Jesus were alive today, the phrase he would most despise is this one,

“Sorry Jesus, that’s just the way it is.”

We say some version of this phrase often as we try to teach our kids the ways of the world, or help a newbie get acclimated to the organization we’ve known for a while. The words have their place and can save some frustration.

That’s just the way it is.

But think about how wrong these words have proven to be just in our lifetimes.

“Hey, Dad, how come you don’t wear your seat belt when you drive?”

“I’ve been driving for a hundred years, and I’m fine. It’s just not worth the trouble. I’ll take my chances.”

That’s just the way it is.

I remember being fascinated by the blue smoky haze that hung thick in the cocktail lounge at the Base Officer’s Club as we walked to the kids TV room. The bar was where people went to smoke, right?” Would the day ever come when it was no longer allowed? No.

That’s just the way it is.

When I was in seminary the big debate of the day was whether gay and lesbian men and women would ever be allowed to be ministers. “That kind of thing is fine by me, but the church will never come around.”

That’s just the way it is.

Sometimes, praise God, the way it is- isn’t anymore. And, together as a people we move forward. This is what I keep telling myself in light of the Parkland carnage where military bullets shot from a military gun tore through the tender flesh of children who bled to death next to desks where their backpacks were packed and ready to take home.

When I get discouraged I imagine the day in the not too distant future when a tenth grader will come home from a history class and ask, “Grandma, this week we’re studying mass shootings. So, let me get this straight. People used to be able to buy military weapons from a store and take them into their private homes just for fun?! How can that possibly be?”

“Well, honey, I guess we all just figured, “That’s just the way it is.”

Shalom, Rick

February 1, 2018, 12:00 AM

My Two Cents

The Upside Down

When supper is finished, the dishes are done and there’s time to sit down and watch a little TV before bed, science fiction programs aren’t normally our first choice. But the buzz around “Stranger Things” grew too loud to ignore. So last fall we began watching.

What do you get when you mix an irresistible band of middle school buddies and their big brothers and sisters with a few really scary monsters, and put them in a small Indiana town where a top secret government laboratory has taken up residence? Stranger Things- a fun, creative TV series sprinkled generously with startling surprises. But also a series that offers a compelling image- the Upside Down.

In Stranger Things, the Upside Down is a parallel universe where nothing is certain and fear is the order of the day. It’s easy to get tripped in the Upside Down. And when you fall, there are forces at work that make it hard to get back up. Desperation is the order of the day in the Upside Down. And the kicker is this. Even though most people don’t know it’s there, the Upside Down exists right beside normal life.

Well…

Life is good for most of us, like it is for the folks in Stranger Things. This isn’t to say we don’t have our trials and tribulations. We live with pain and loss. We work hard at jobs we don’t always love. We worry. Sometimes we worry a lot. But, most of us do all of this from a living situation that is generally comfortable, free of fear and desperation.

Meanwhile, there is an alternative universe that is very real and very close to us. There are pockets of fear and desperation right around the corner, or downtown maybe, that most of us don’t even see. Or, if we do see them, we are easily able to look away when they get too scary. In real life the Upside Down is a function of poverty, not subterranean creatures. But the realities are the same. Trip once, and life may never be the same again.

Without giving too much away, those clever middle school kids figured out how to deal with the Upside Down. They entered it. They found a way to diminish its power by becoming vulnerable.

Makes me think that maybe those of us who enjoy the comfort of easy evenings in front of the TV need to figure out how to do the same thing.

Shalom,

Rick

January 1, 2018, 12:00 AM

My Two Cents

FISHING FOR BASS

Greg Turk is the founder of “Homie Soaps” a company that employs young men who live in South Central LA and are trying to clear of gang life in their neighborhoods. Greg told a story in a workshop he led at last summer’s General Assembly of the Christian Church. The workshop was called, “Transformative Leadership and Innovation”. The purpose was to encourage congregational leaders to think differently about living into a new future.

The story he told was about a friend who lives in a neighborhood surrounding a lovely old lake. Once when Greg was visiting, he asked his friend, “Hey, are there any Bass in this lake?” His friend responded quickly, “No, there aren’t any Bass in the lake. Used to be, but not anymore.”

On another occasion Greg was driving by the lake and had some extra time on his hands. Being an avid fisherman, he had his tackle in the trunk so he pulled off, got out his rod and a lure, and fired a cast into the middle of the lake. After just a few minutes, he got a bite. Sure enough. It was a Bass.

Greg texted a selfie of him holding the fish, and added, “There’s Bass in your lake!” after a minute, his friend replied, “That must be another lake. There’s no more bass in our lake”.

Greg went on to make the point that all organizations including congregations tell two kinds of stories about ourselves. The first kind we tell he calls “limiting stories”. These are stories that sound like, we can’t do that, or we’ve tried that, or we don’t have enough people to pull that off. There aren’t any more Bass in that lake.

The second kind of story, the mirror image of the limiting story, is the liberating story. The liberating story often starts with, “What if?” These stories might recognize that we may not be able to do what we’ve always done, but there are always other things to do. It might not

be the same kind of Bass, but there are still Bass in the lake worth fishing for.

Greg suggests that congregations take our limiting stories seriously, honestly recognizing our context, our capacity and energy. But then he tells us not to be defined by those stories because sometimes they keep us from seeing new realities that are well within our reach.

One temptation for congregations with rich histories is to define ourselves more by what we used to do than by what we might yet do. It is fun to tell stories about all the fun we’ve had around the lake over the years!

But life is coming at us fast these days for the church. And we are wise when we not only enjoy those fishing stories that are so fun to tell, but also keep our tackle with us. Who knows what we might pull out?!